Detroit Pistons: 3 best acquisitions of the past 3 seasons

1. Trading for Blake Griffin

The Blake Griffin trade was the obvious choice. Initially, it looked like a massive overpay for the Pistons when they traded for the five-time all-star.

Now, after Griffin was an all-star and All-NBA player during his first full season with Detroit, and the LA Clippers used the assets they acquired to land Paul George and Kawhi Leonard this offseason.

In the world of basketball, it’s rare to find a trade where both sides were winners. This was one of them.

Griffin had his best season as a pro during 2018-19, and he stayed largely healthy for the first time in five years. He averaged a career-high 24.5 points, 7.5 rebounds and 5.4 assists per game.

For a Casey offense that had historically relied on the play of elite guards, Griffin was the focal point of the offense every time they came down the floor. As long as his play maintains, that isn’t going to change.

For his career, had struggled with consistency from 3-point range. Last year, he was able to shoot 36.2 percent from downtown, which was good enough for fifth among rotation players for the Pistons last year. Griffin gives the Pistons an All-Star that can play a variety of roles.

He’s evolved from the dunk specialist that he was earlier in his career and it’s made the Detroit executives look like geniuses.